The Legend of the Mosquito is in its final stages and will be releasing soon. (submitted photo/Celia Deschambeault)

By Nikita Ganovicheff

Kids Book Release

Local author releasing dual language children’s book

May 30, 2019 | 2:00 PM

It’s a story passed down from her grandmother, and now, Celia Deschambeault is putting it to paper.

Carrie Fiddler, Deschambeault’s grandmother, first told her the tale when she was attending university. Fiddler is a member of the Opaskwayak Cree Nation and heard the story while living in Manitoba.

The Legend of the Mosquito is a children’s book telling the story of how the mosquito came to be while teaching kids the value of listening to their parents.

Deschambeault promotes Indigenous languages within her family and at her work with the MLTC. The author has written several Cree resource books but this is her first children’s book.

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Having the story written in both English and Cree was important to Deschambeault as she feels some may not be able to understand the story without translation.

“There’s not much Cree books out there. If there are, they are usually straight Cree. So it’s difficult to read the books because you need to see the English concepts as well.”

Deschambeault pitched the book to Jerold Gliege of JerBear Books who then put her in touch with Sarah Cydejko, an artist and teacher in Meadow Lake.

Cydejko and Deschambeault started working on the book last October and before they started, both determined it was important they had a shared vision for the project.

“We come from two different backgrounds, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, so we really had to sit and talk about how this book is going to look.”

Once Cydejko started putting a rough draft together, Deschambeault knew they understood one another.

“When she did the storyboards, just the straight drawings of the story, already I knew it was going to be what i wanted.”

The two tried several different art styles including watercolours before choosing digital art.

“She really captured the whole story and the illustrations are very beautifully done,” she said.

The pair are starting work on a second book and plan to create a third. Both books will be stories passed down to Deschambeault from her grandmother.

The Legend of the Mosquito will be available to buy through JerBear Books in June. Deschambeault said people can also buy the book through the Deschambeault Learning website which she is currently setting up.

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nikita.ganovicheff@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @Nikitaganov